Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-07-16

brother. "Don't you remember that a boy
came In heresix months ago and wanted to Dor
row five dollars to go into the newspaper
businessl" 10, yes, remember; are you the
ladin "Yes.n he replied, II have got along
nicely. have got nice home for my mother
she Is sick YETI, and l am as well clothed as
Won are. and there's your five dollars q, was
he NOT north savingl Why that lad is worth
fifty such boys as have sometimes seen NOV
ing in elegant circles, never put to any use
for God or man. Worth savingl l go farther
than that, and tell you they are not
only worth saving, but they are being saved.
One of these lads picked up from our streets,
and sent West by benevolent society, wrote
East, saying: II am getting along first rate.
am on probation in the Methodist Church.
shall be entered as a member the first of
next month now teach a Sunday
with it, This is asplendid country to make a
living in If the boys running around the
street with a backing box on their
shoulder, or bundle of papers under their
arms, only knew what high old times we boys
have out here, they wouldn't hesitate about
coming West. but come the first chance they
get" So some by one humane and Chris
tian visitation, and some by another, are be-
ing rescued. In one reform school through
which two thousand of the little ones passed,
ono thousand nine hundred and ninety
five turned out well. In other
words. only five Of the two thousand
turned out badly. There are thousands
Of them who, through Christian societies,
have been transplanted to beautiful homes all
over this land, and there are many who,
through the rich grace Of our Lord Jesus
Christ have already won the crown. A little
girl was found in the streets of Baltimore and
aiken into one of the reform societies, and
they said to her: "What is your Manner
She said: my name is Maryp What
is your other Manner She said: ~ don't
know" So they took her into the reform
society, and as they did not know her last
name they always called her Mary Lost"
since she had been picked up out of the street.
But she grew on, and after awhile the Holy
Spirit came TO her heart, and she became
Christian child, and she changed her name;
and when ANYBODY asked her what her name
was, she said: at used to be Mary Lost; but
now since l have become Christian, it is
Mary Found"
For this vast multitude, are we willing to
go forth from this mornings service and see
what we can do, employing all the agencies
have spoken of for the rectification of the poi
soned fountains9 We. live in beautiful
city. The lines have fallen to us in
pleasant places, and we have goodly
heritage; and any man who does not like
residence in Brooklyn, must be a most un-
comfortable and unreasonable man. But. my
friends, the material prosperity Of city is
not its chief glory There may be fine houses
and beautiful streets, and that all be the
garniture of sepulchre. Some of the most
prosperous cities of the world have gone
down, not ole stone left upon another. But
a city may be in ruins long before a tower
has fallen, or a column has crumbled. or a
tomb has been defaced. When in a city the
churches of God are full of cold formalities
I'D inanimate religion; when the houses of
commerce are the abode of fraud and unholy
traffic; when the streets are filed with
crime unarrested and sin unenlightened
and helplessness unpitied-that city is in
ruins, though every church were st.
Peters, and every moneyed institution were
a Bank of England, and every library were a
British Museum. and every house had a
porch like that of Rheims, and a roof like that
of Amiens, and a tower like that of Antwerp,
and traceried windows like those of Freiburg
My brethren, our pulses beat rapidly the
time away, and soon we shall be gone and
what we have to do for the city in which we
live we must do right speedily, or never do it
at all. In that day when those who have
wrapped themselves in luxuries and despissd
the poor shall come to shame and everlasting
contempt, l hope it may be said of you
and me that we gave bread to the hungry,
and wiped away the tear of the orphan, and
upon the wanderer Of the street we opened the
brightness and benediction of Christian
home; and then, through our instrumental
ity, it shall be known on earth and in heaven,
that Mary lost became Mary foundl